Movie Review: Capture Kill Release

Capture Kill Release is based loosely on the Ken and Barbie Killers. The real story is horrifying enough but Capture Kill Release tells the story in such a matter of fact manner that it has an icky layer on.

It tells the story of Jennifer and Farhang who films themselves planning to execute the murder of a random stranger. Things start to go awry when one of them gets cold feet and shit starts to go sideways.

Filmed as a found footage movie, the couples every move is documented from the banal to the hard to watch. The film doesn't suffer from the curse of most found footage films as it is edited in such a way that it doesn't include every tiny detail (barring a random sex scene), we don't need a whole lot of the why in this kind of film, just a how because in the how is where the horror resides. As things start to unravel the footage gets more and more extreme.

Jennifer Fraser and Farhang Gahjar do a great job as the murderous couple, their interactions are genuine and most importantly they are a believable couple albeit in an unbelievable situation. It all seems natural and this is why the film works. Fraser's sexy, psycho, sociopath is the stand out in the film, everything happens off the back of her performance with Gahjar providing a very good foil for her character.

Capture Kill Release also intersperses some home video footage of Jennifer when she was younger at the time it didn't seem all that necessary but it was used to good effect toward the end of the film. People will automatically roll their eyes at yet another found footage film but ignore this one at your peril. It is a great example of this kind of film whilst admittedly bringing nothing new to the table, does things right. McAnulty and Stewart keep the story tight (both in direction & story) and with a believable premise for keeping the camera rolling.